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This is really more a logic/philosophy question than a Christianity one. And it is logically similar to this scenario: Twin brothers get separated from their mother and from each other at a young age. As adults they later reunite and discuss their mother, to find that their childhood memories are imperfect, and sometimes conflict. Does this mean they ...

Lent Lent is a period of penance in preparation for Triduum (Maundy Thurs. through Easter Sun). The faithful are encouraged to increase their works of mercy and decrease their self-indulgence. It begins on Ash Wednesday, which is 40 days (minus Sundays) before the Triduum. Ash Wednesday So called because it invokes the ancient practice of covering ...

The Spirit of God is everything that will make eternal life worthwhile. My understanding is that the full glory of God will be revealed to everyone at the time of judgement. Hell is torture because it is complete and utter separation from God, nothing more, nothing less. This will be torture for unbelievers and anti-believers because they will first have ...

The Christian definition notion of hell itself already assumes in itself a belief in the Christian doctrines. As such, most atheists have exactly zero fear of hell, and it is considered merely an invention, typically either of fear or of control (depending on who you ask). As such, it isn't the atheists desire to exist in an afterlife without God - simply ...

As a Catholic, I capitalize everything remotely concerning Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit out of respect and will always continue to. But, curiously enough, the official writings of my church do not, which leads me to believe that being scrupulous about it is not the end of the world.

Here's the Catholic Lenten Cliffnotes. I see I've been beaten to the punch at answering, but what the heck. Mardi Gras is some sort of French meaning Fat Tuesday. It's called that because the next day is Ash Wednesday Ash Wednesday (today) is the beginning of Lent. It is a precept of the church that Catholics are supposed to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good ...

I should probably let a member of the LDS Church answer this, as I only attended the LDS Church for a few months. There was an LDS conference during that time, and I'm going to attempt to answer based on what I can find for official statements and my own memory of the event. From the LDS Website: What is general conference? General conference is a ...

The word Lent itself is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning "Spring," and another word which also was the word for "March," the month in which the majority of Lent falls. Fr. Saunders writes: "Since the earliest times of the Church, there is evidence of some kind of Lenten preparation for Easter. For instance, St. Irenaeus (d. 203) wrote to Pope ...

General Conference is literally the oldest tradition of the LDS Church, as the church was formally organized at a General Conference meeting on April 6, 1830. Section 20 of the Doctrine and Covenants lays out the basic organizational details for the church established during that meeting. Of particular interest to this question are verses 61 and 62: 61 ...

Letter case is a relatively modern innovation, so we can't go by the original languages. Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek were all written in what we would call uppercase. They also lacked other typographic conventions such the modern system of punctuation. (You can get an idea about what ancient writing looked like by reading this history of the ...

Christianity is not, "just a belief system", nor is it "also a system for organizing and governing society". It is simply the way for imperfect people to get into an eternal relationship with a perfect God, not by our good works but by the gift of Jesus. John puts it better than I can: John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and ...

If not, this would require that all 300k sects agree that they worship the same "God". Aaa, but that is just the rub: they do! Even the ones with pretty radically different descriptions of him agree that there is just one God out there. The suggestion that this is functional polytheism is ludicrous.

I understand that it is done out of some idea of respect, but personally, I think that for pronouns it is just bad grammar. Capitalizing titles and proper names for God and Christ is, however, correct application of the rules of English grammar. Note that the used of LORD in the bible in all capitals is altogether different; this is used in many English ...

Yes, I think it is. Though, with an emphasis on "necessarily". Well, beyond the core tenants, anyway. If you are a Christian but have never experienced God's love, then something is missing. I'm not talking about charismatic or pentecostal "gifts of the Spirit", I'm just talking about... feeling that God loves you. Miguel de Unamuno: "Those who believe ...

Luke 16 is your answer here. The rich man who is sent to hell clearly says, "Don't let my brothers join me here!" Ergo, hell is clearly NOT a reward. 19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the ...

God does speak This is a very interesting question. Certainly God has spoken to people in the past in very specific ways. To mention a few... God told Moses to stretch out his staff over the Red Sea, and it parted. God told Moses to strike the rock, and water poured out God told the Israelites to go out to find the manna, and it was there (every day for ...

No In a polytheistic religion, each member worships a set of gods. In Christianity, each member worships a single god, and further, believes that there is only one god. The fact that there are different sects does not make it a polytheistic religion -- each sect claims as a point of doctrine that there is only one god, and hence, each sect is monotheistic. ...

It is only a "reward" in the linguistic sense that it's the just result for one who has obstinately turned away from God. It could also be seen as a "reward" in the sense that the one who goes there gets what he wants: himself and only himself for all of eternity. I don't have the book in front of me so this quote will be off the top of my head, but an ...

I'd like to add some comments from a Protestant who lived in New Orleans for 4 years. I like the idea of Lent as a time to reflect on what Christ's sacrifice means to us, and a way to draw closer to Him as we approach the celebration of His resurrection, and I have used this in church settings. Unfortunataly, for some it is merely an outward ritual that does ...

General Conference is a meeting held twice a year for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (or Mormons). It is held on a Saturday and a Sunday where the Prophet on earth today gets to speak to the world and apostles and other authorities of the church speak as well. It is a great meeting and if you haven't watched it, you definitely should! It ...

Like many people have said. It is in one sense a reward, while in the larger sense not at all. The Bible says the following in Mathew 10:28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Well, destroying both soul and body would be a terrible ...

I'll pose a counter-question. Say you have a man, and all he talks about is how much he wants to drink pure sulfuric acid and how wonderful that would be. Then, one day, he asks really nicely and someone grants him access to the sulfuric acid. He then drinks the sulfuric acid. Now, is the acid a reward? I suppose in one sense. After all, he got what he ...

Hell is never a reward. God created every human being. He's placed eternity in their hearts and a desire for God. Unbelievers substitute this desire with earthly desires and thus deceive themselves that they don't need or want God. In reality, it is not possible to resist God when we see Him in His beauty. "In His presence is fullness of joy" and "at His ...

Islam proposes a system of government. But the Bible does not. Although many systems with Christian beliefs have tried to force a political system or government. I would say that they failed. I am not saying in any way that a Christian should not do politics and act out of his belief system. What I am saying is more that there is no such thing as a ...

If you liked Mere Christianity, you might like to read Screwtape Letters and see what Lewis has to say about using Christianity to further political ends. That being said, Christianity is the basis for a Church, which is a bigger thing than a government. In the OT, we've got the Covenants (Individual: Adam and Eve, Familial: Noah and his Family; Tribal: ...

"Experiential" is inherent to all beliefs to some degree or other, not specific to Christianity. Religion's certainly not empirical if that's what you mean. Whether can be understood without being experienced is up to the individual I think. In my view, in order to fully understand something we need to address its root cause. When the root cause is the ...